In my normal wanderings and hikes through the woods of Forest Grove,when I am foraging for herbs and plants, I have come across the repeated ocurrance of white penises painted onto tree trunks. Upon following the phallic pictographs I discovered a grove of cedar trees with the remnants of a large fire pit near by. Accompanying the pictographs in this grove were multiple instances of the letters “NBS” also in the same white paint. After making this discovery near my home two years ago, I decided to research this mysterious phallic cult further and share my findings.
At first, I believed it was a purely phallic cult, but the addition of breast pictographs, pictographs as combinations of breast and a phallus, as well as a large pictograph representing sexual union, show that “NBS” are most likely a fertility cult celebrating both the masculine and feminine. My theory is that the “NBS” are a local cult of fertility worshippers as the phallic pictographs are saturated in one area of the woods along both sides of a mountain stream which has carved a deep gully into the mountain. Perhaps the waters of life drew the white penis cult to practice in this area upon which they painted phalluses ejaculating the fluid of creation. In Pagan times, water and rain were seen as semen of the Sky God who fertilized Mother Earth. Pictograph no. 5 shows a man and a woman in the act of Heiros Gamos, the sacred marriage of the masculine and feminine. It is a primitive and vulgar image with the heads also representing breasts forming a possible sigil or symbol of power. This pictograph is present in the grove of sacred Cedar trees next to the fire pit and a ruined primitive wooden shelter.
Pictographs no. 1 & 2 were found across the stream with pictograph no. 3 painted on the wall of bridge which crosses the stream. In following this series of pictographs one is led down a small hidden forest trail. Pictograph no. 1 marks the halfway point of the trail, and pictograph no. 2, which is the only phallus found pointing downward, is positioned right across from a one to two centuries old holly tree. This pictograph and the holly tree are only a foot apart. The phallus markers stop after the holly tree. Perhaps this was considered a sacred tree where offerings or worship were practiced by the mysterious “NBS” group. Holly is a sacred tree of protection and is viewed as a masculine tree – possibly explaining the lack of testicles doubling as breasts in the pictograph next to the tree.
Pictograph no. 4 (shown above) marks the entrance to the Cedar grove on the opposite side of the stream from the holly tree. This pictograph marks a pathway that lines up exactly with the fire pit and a fallen Cedar tree featuring the largest painted phallus. As the fire pit seems to be the focused area for worship, I believe the largest phallus pictograph to be of more importance than the others. It is the only pictograph featuring words as well; an arrow with the word “Woody” above it pointing to the large phallus. It is my speculation that this fallen Cedar represents a sacrificed male deity of the forest in the tradition of the divine kings and the life-death-rebirth gods of Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, and Egypt. In the local secret fertility cult I am a member of we use a fallen tree each year to represent the phallus of the male forest god who is reborn at the fire festival of May and dies every year at the feast of the dead in the autumn. The fallen tree representing the phallus is worshipped, decorated and danced around. That the fire pit is right in front of this fallen log shows that it was the centre of worship. I also speculate that the NBS group’s name for the phallic deity is “Woody” due to the inscription; Woody being vulgar slang for penis.
My final conclusion is that this mysterious cult named NBS are no longer meeting as the fire pit has been disassembled for over 2 years and the primitive shelter has never been rebuilt, but has been allowed to rot. How long ago they were active, I cannot know for sure, but my best guess is within the past decade as the mosses and lichens which grow on the local trees have not yet obscured the phallic pictographs. My best estimation is that the NBS were a group of young adults local to the mountain and Forest Grove, who met in the woods to celebrate the rites of passage of youth such as puberty, discovery of sexual drive, first kisses, loss of virginity, and possible resulting young parenthood. The mystery of how many members there were, whether they follow the beliefs of a fertility cults, and what the initials “NBS” stand for will have to always remain a mystery, but they have left behind their legacy in the form of pictographs, a sacred grove, and a sacred path.
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